We asked Toronto makeup and hair wedding experts for tips on how to look your best on the wedding day. It was no surprise that preparation was key! Keep reading for their tips for beautiful bridal hair and a fresh face for optimal wedding results.

Tips for beautiful bridal hair and a fresh face from Toronto makeup and hair wedding experts
Photo by Joee Wong Photography from a blush pink wedding at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Toronto

How to look your best – Face

1. Moisturize

Stephanie from BlushPretty advises:

Moisturize regularly. This means day and night. Soft, smooth skin is the perfect canvas for your makeup artist on the wedding day.

In addition to just the face, makeup artist Fiona Man recommends moisturizing lips too.

The lips tend to get neglected during the skin care process but is quite important. Remember to moisturize your lips frequently to avoid any dead skin or cracks from showing underneath your lipstick. A lot of photos will be taken that day, so you want all aspects to look as flawless as possible. Also, exfoliate the lips with a toothbrush. On a weekly basis, take some brown sugar and honey and use it as a natural lip exfoliant. It will plump up those lips for the ever so important “first kiss” photo!

2. Exfoliate

Every makeup artist we spoke to agreed that exfoliating was key.

Joan Huang from Aglow By Joan advises:

Exfoliate skin the night before to remove any dead skin cells, followed with a hydrating face mask. This will create a smooth canvas for the makeup the next morning.

Not only does exfoliating create a smooth canvas, it also does a lot more. Fiona explains:

With the ever changing and unpredictable weather in Toronto, our skin tends to suffer. Every bride wants to have a luminous glow on their wedding day. To help bring dull complexion into a healthy glow, incorporate exfoliation into your regimen. It not only helps remove dead skin cells and toxins, it also helps clear blackheads, improve circulation, and allow your skin care products to absorb better into your skin. A great exfoliator that is great for all skin types including those that are sensitive and acne-prone is AmorePacific Treatment Enzyme Peel. It does not contain any abrasive chemicals and helps brighten and even the skintone.

3. Drink lots of water

Stephanie advises brides to drink lots of water and avoid salt/sodium leading up to the day.

Hydrate because healthy skin starts from the inside out. Drink water to keep the skin looking fresh and plump, and avoid salt and sugar intake! Sodium can dehydrate the skin, emphasizing dry skin, underage circles, and blotchiness.

But don’t drink right before bed! Joan recommends to avoid drinking water 3 hours before bed time the night before, which can cause your body to retain water and leave you with a puffy face in the morning.

How to look your best – Hair

1. Stay hydrated

Just as it is good for your face, staying hydrated is good for your hair too. Hair stylist Ming, from Puzzle Creations, recommends brides to drink lots of water to keep hair looking its best.

A week leading up to your wedding, make sure that you are staying hydrated. Dehydration can cause your scalp to dry out making your hair feel brittle and limp, which will affect the way your hair holds after styling. This regime is suggested for any bride who wants their hair to look and feel great for their big day! The earlier you start the better as this can promote and stimulate healthy hair growth, both texture and length.

2. Keep hair clean

While it’s great to style your hair with products as part of a regular routine, hair stylist Ladylyn Gool, recommends keeping hair clean leading up to the wedding.

The week of your wedding, do not do any oil treatments what so ever. Unless you want limp, flat hair. Wash your hair the night before, using a Clarify Shampoo. Also, do not use conditioner, leave-in, oils or products. Conditioner, Oils, and silicon in products, make it difficult for hair to hold shape, volume and curl. Also make sure split ends are trimmed off, and color is refreshed, at least a week before your wedding.

3. Beauty sleep

Ming also advises to sleep on a silk pillowcase for optimal smoothness:

Another great, easy and natural tip to prep your hair for the big day is to sleep on a silk pillowcase. This will help everyone, but especially for those who have fine hair, prone to frizz and/or have a lot of flyaway’s Regular cotton pillow cases, while comfortable in touch, are in comparison ‘rougher’ on the hair than a silk one, so when you’re sleeping and rolling your head side to side, it may cause breakage while creating friction on your hair follicles causing it frizz and/or fall out more easily. Whereas with a silk one, the smoothness of it will help avoid your hair from getting tangled as it’ll just slide across.

These are such great tips from the Toronto makeup and hair wedding pros! It seems that they are not only good tips for preparing for the wedding day, but also year-round to look fab. Bookmark this page for the month leading up to your wedding day to help you look your best!


Rebecca Chan is a Toronto event designer and event planner. If you have a brand activation, media launch event, design project, trade show or a special event, connect with her today to see how we can collaborate on your next project.